POULTNEY, VT – Nearly 20 local farms and businesses have been supplying food to the dining hall at Green Mountain College this fall thanks to a student-led effort to promote local food.

The next Local Harvest event is on Wednesday, November 7, when breakfast, lunch and dinner options will be 90 percent locally sourced. On November 14, a Thanksgiving dinner featuring local foods will be served.

The series began in late September and has continued through the fall, with each Wednesday known on campus as Local Harvest day at the dining hall.

“Students and staff alike are enthusiastic and excited about this opportunity,” said GMC junior Irene Holak, an organizer for the event. “Green Mountain College has taken strides with Chartwells [GMC’s food service company] to increase the purchase of locally sourced produce and products this year. With this event, it seems GMC is serious.”

Students have taken the lead throughout the series: They have helped design menus as well as harvest and prepare food each week. Posters and Power Point presentations introduce diners to some of the local farmers with whom the College works.

The Local Harvest series is funded in part through the Student Campus Greening Fund, a unique program dedicated to supporting student-generated environmental initiatives on campus. In December of 2006, the student body voted to allocate over $15,000 to six projects.

For this year’s Local Harvest series, farms and businesses providing food for the dining hall include:

The College’s long-term goal is to increase local food offerings in the dining hall by the five percent annually over the next three years. The goal is to help reduce the College’s environmental footprint as well as strengthen the local economy.

For more information, contact the GMC Office of Communications at 802-287-8311.